Articles Precision (Page 14)

NORTH WEST PROVINCE INTER-PROVINCIAL
PRECISION FLYING CHAMPIONSHIPS

Brits – 25 March 2000

By Jan Hanekom

It was a nice cool morning, overcast with the cloud base about 2000′ AGL. Twelve competitors arrived at Brits, some of them from Bloemfontein and Ladybrand. As I arrived at Brits, Mauritz phoned to tell me that our C150 has got a problem (AMO induced snag) – so I had to rush over to Wonderboom by car, flew over to Brits in a C182 to make it just in time for my papers and obviously a bit stressed because I now had to participate in the C182 at a much higher nominated speed and in a heavier aeroplane.

Dale de Klerk and his team of helpers and marshals did an excellent job in the planning and setting up of this route. We had unmarked (secret) timing points, secret markers in town where it was difficult to time yourselves and find the markers, and we had one turning point behind a koppie which also made it difficult to get ones timing right. Unfortunately we discovered an error with Dale’s distance calculation on one leg, which meant that the timing for two secrets had to be cancelled.

An indication of the difficulty was that four pilots missed a turning point marker in town. But seeing that we want to do well in the coming up World Championships, I feel that this is what we need.

After a well appreciated lunch break with Tannie Truia and her team doing the necessary providing us with meals, it was off to the landing contest. Conditions were good with a slight crosswind of about 5 Kts. The organizers decided that we have to do all four landings namely, 1) Powered approach, 2) Glide approach, 3) Glide approach (no flaps allowed) and 4) Powered approach with obstacle. This is a very crucial part of the contest and some competitors feel that it is weighted too heavily with regards to penalties. The bottom line is – one bad landing and you are basically out of the competition.

After a short wait and an impromptu airshow (with smoke and all) by Norman Dixie and his Cub, the final results were available.

Barry de Groot with his Jabiru won the landing contest with a total of 40 penalties and Jan Hanekom did the best on the navigation/observation section with a total of 120 penalties. It was a tight finish as usual with only 82 penalties covering the top five positions.

Open Class

• 1. Hans Schwebel 199
• 2. Barry de Groot 232
• 3. Adrian Pilling 236
• 4. Mary de Klerk 267
• 5. Jan Hanekom 281
• 6. Ron Stirk 392
• 7. Frank Eckard 431
• 8. Mauritz du Plessis 709
• 9. Walter Walle 916
• 10. Norman Dixie 1808

Sportsman class

• 1. Ted McKerchar 2408
• 2. Jack Onderstal 3638

A very special thanks again to Brits Flying Club for hosting this event. See you in Vanderbijlpark on the 15th of April – and please bring your friends along.

EASTERN PROVINCE INTER–PROVINCIAL
PRECISION FLYING CHAMPIONSHIPS

Port Elizabeth – 11 March 2000

During the week up to the competition day, PE had lots of rain with the last rain falling on the Friday morning as I arrived there. Saturday was one of those perfect mornings that you can only get at places like PE and we had a field of 13 competitors ready to roll at Progress airfield.

Dave Perelson’s experience as a competitor showed with a very well thought out route with seven legs and an away start to complicate matters. The route distance was about 75NM. Miss the start and you can just as well go home. Most of us came back from the navex, confident that we found most of the secrets – not to be. Dave has put 3 secrets in villages and they were in positions where it was not only difficult to spot them due to the ‘busy’ environment, but also where you would not expect them. Another problem obviously was that it was difficult to fly your time accurately at these secrets. With a total of 10 timing points (6 secrets) the results reflected your real performance and took luck out of the equation. Isn’t this what Precision flying is all about – on track, on time, all the time.

By the time we were ready to do the landings, we had a wind of 20–25 Knots more or less down runway 25. Not finished with us, Dave decided that we should do 4 landings namely: 1) Power with flaps, 2) Glide with flaps, 3) Glide without flaps and 4) Obstacle landing. By the time the second group was airborne, low cloud came in and we had to do the glides from 800ft instead of the usual 1000ft.

In the navigation part of the competition, James Craven did the best with a total of 196 penalties followed by Hans Schwebel (313) , Jan Hanekom (387), Russell Phillips (695), Frikkie Lubbe (1181) and A van Vuuren (1445) in the Open Class.

In the Sportsman Class we had R Hickman first (1139), followed by O Akerlund (1354), C Gerard (1602), A Taljaard (2084), D Renwick (2305), C du Plessis (2965) and J Saveur (3292).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

First Three in the Sportsman Class

The landing competition was won by Russell Phillips, closely followed by Jan Hanekom and Hans Schwebel with only 7 penalties between separating them. The penalties 33, 35 and 40 respectively for the four landings combined.

Overall Result – Open Class

• 1 H Schwebel 353
• 2 J Craven 383
• 3 J Hanekom 422
• 4 R Phillips 728
• 5 F Lubbe 1492
• 6 A van Vuuren 1827

Overall Result – Sportsman Class

• 1 R Hickman 1469
• 2 O Akerlund 1736
• 3 C Gerard 1958
• 4 A Taljaard 2501
• 5 D Renwick 3195
• 6 C du Plessis 3446
• 7 J Sauveur 3784

I would like to thank all the competitors for their participation and hope to see everyone at the forthcoming events. A big thank you to Dave Perelson and is able team of marshals without whom we could not have the event. Last but not least, thanks to Algoa Flying Club and John and Mandy English of Progress for offering their facilities. It is indeed appreciated by everyone.

Tempe – Bloemfontein – 18 to 20 November 1999

By Adrian Pilling

Well before you know it most of the year has passed and we are into another National Precision Flying Championship, this time in Tempe Bloemfontein. As per usual the famous Free State friendliness was evident with the locals helping us out and really making us feel at home. Most of the countryside was looking pretty dry and brown clearly in need of rain….. a real test of navigation skills for the pilots.

The contestants arrived from all over the country including Hannes, Waltraud and Robin from Austria. The numbers were a little down this year, clearly a reflection of the economy, most pilots arriving during the official practice week. The format was a little different this year with the competition spread over three days, allowing for three navigation tests as well as for the four landings. This year was particularly significant as the national team would be announced as a result of this competition and previous regionals. This really heightened the competition amongst the contestants.

During the practice week a typical Free State storm suddenly brewed up and changed the sky from a perfect blue into a perfect violent mud storm. People were hanging onto the wing tips of planes in order to keep them on the ground. Complete mayhem for about 20 minutes and then as quickly as it came, it disappeared leaving a clean freshness in the air. This brief rainfall served to change the colours of the landscape just enough to make the observation of some of the photos more difficult. And so to the competition.

Thursday

The day dawned windy and dry. Willem Coetzee, the Competition Director, and his team (mostly parabats in training who had the day off due to the strong winds) set a course to the South West. This course was very cunning with turning points difficult to find if you drifted off course. The route took the pilots over a little koppie, surely nobody would be up there! Wrong – the parabats were up there with a secret timing gate and this took its toll of some of the pilots. After all the crews returned, a brief but welcome rest was followed by two of the four landings scheduled for the competition ( first the powered landing and then the glide). By the end of the evening the provisional results were; Navigation – 1st Nigel Hopkins, 2nd Hans Schwebel, 3rd Adrian Pilling, 4th Frank Eckard, 5th Jan Hanekom, 6th Barry de Groot. In the landing section – 1st Adrian Pilling, 2nd Nigel Hopkins.

Friday

This was the day that Willem threw the western route at us. It was a shorter route but one that had the crews working hard. The format was the same as the previous day with two landings (glide and barrier) following the navigation. By the end of the evening the results for the day were; Navigation – 1st Adrian Pilling, 2nd Nigel Hopkins, 3rd Frank Eckard, 4th Mary de Klerk, 5th James Craven, 6th Hans Schwebel. In the landings section – 1st Nigel Hopkins, 2nd Adrian Pilling.

Saturday

This was a tough day as the scores for the previous days had been so close, this day really counted more. This was the shortest of the routes and had a really tricky short leg that created some problems for the pilots when the wind changed. By the end of the day the placing were – 1st Nigel Hopkins, 2nd Mary de Klerk, 3rd Ron Stirk, 4th Adrian Pilling, 5th Frank Eckard, 6th Jan Hanekom. The scores today were really close.

After a brief period it was rush, rush, rush to a sumptuous reception planned by Willem and Annette. A really special meal was followed by the announcement of the final placing:-

INDIVIDUAL RESULTS (Overall)

• 1^st – Nigel Hopkins 225 points
• 2^nd – Adrian Pilling 268 points
• 3^rd – Hans Schwebel 587 points
• 4^th – Ron Stirk 610 points
• 5^th – Frank Eckard 647 Points
• 6^th – Jan Hanekom 649 Points
• 7^th – Mary de Klerk 716 Points
• 8^th – Barry de Groot 917 Points
• 9^th – James Craven 1081 Points
• 10^th – Don Macintyre 1129 Points
• 11^th – Mauritz du Plessis 1460 Points
• 12^th – Dick Churley 1490 Points
• 13^th – Walter Walle 1976 Points
• 14^th – F. Lubbe 3477 Points
• 15^th – C.Bodesteyn 3656 Points
• 16^th – J.Kleynhans 4171 Points

Landings:

• 1^st – Nigel Hopkins
• 2^nd – Adrian Pilling
• 3^rd – Mary de Klerk
• 4^th – Ron Stirk
• 5^th – Mauritz du Plessis

Trophies:

• Observation Trophy – Nigel Hopkins
• Timing Trophy – Adrian Pilling
• Best Private Pilot – Hans Schwebel
• Best Club – Brits Flying Club
• Best Province – North West Province

Provincial Colours were awarded for the first time to Mauritz du Plessis. Well done

Later in the evening the National Team was announced. This team will represent the country at the 14th World Precision Flying Championships in Sweden in 2000. The team is:-

• Nigel Hopkins
• Adrian Pilling (Captain)
• Hans Schwebel
• Ron Stirk
• Barry de Groot
• Jan Hanekom (1st Reserve)
• Frank Eckard (2nd Reserve)
• Mary de Klerk (3rd Reserve)
• Deon van den Berg (Manager)

We wish the team all the best for the coming World Championships. I know we will do well. A special mention must go to Willem Coetzee – competition director, André Fourie – chief judge, Ros – computer, Annette – Social, Renier Moolman, Dave Perelson, Tempe Flying Club – facilities, the marshalls and everybody on the Tempe airfield.

A special thank you to our sponsor, IMPERIAL BANK.